The Universalist. [volume] (Chicago [Ill.]) 1884-1897, 1887-04-16
Srecia1 Contributors.
THE GREEK ARTICLE.
BY REV. w. E. MANLEY, d. ID.
Denver, Colo.)


The Greek language has but one ar
ticle, the definite article, answering to
our the. There being no indefinite arti-
Gle corresponding to our or an, the
absence of the definite article answers
in the place of these; but though the
Greek article answers generally to our
definite article, it is often employed
where our definite article would be i'm
proper. For example, the Greek arti-
Gle is nearly always employed before
the name of God, denoting the supreme
Being; but omitted before god, denot-
ing subordinate duty. The one is the
God; the other god. We make the
distinction by writing one of them God,
the other god.
In like manner, the holy spirit, or
simply the spirit, denotes the supreme
God when the article is before it; but
when the article is absent, the mean
ing is a spirit, or holy spirit, or infu-
ence. Though this distinction is plain
and unmistakable in the Greek, our
translators, both the old and new, have
utterly disregarded it. The excuse is,
that when the article is omitted, the
transcribers have probably made mis-
take, and left it out, when they should
not have done so. Sometimes, no doubt,
such a mistake has occurred but in
such cases there is generally some evil
dence Of the mistake, by the difference
0f b. But n tff6 case Eef0re us,
there is no such evidence and the in
stances of omission are too numerous
to give any plausibility to the theory.
Another example similar to the fore
going, is when the article is used or
omitted before Son of God. There are
three forms, 1.-THE Son of the God,"
ga Son of the God," and "a son of a
god" Another form is possible, name
ly, "The son of god but of this, l
think, there is no example. Each form
is characteristic of the one who uttered
it. The first, "The Son of the God,'
is spoken only by Christian, who be-
lieves in one God and one Son. The
second, ga Son of the God" was spo-
ken by theist, who believes in one
God, but more than one Son. The
third and last, "a son of a god, was
spoken by polytheist, who believed in
more gods than one, and more sons than
one.
The evangelists allowed every man
to speak as he would, but the translat-
ors make them speak as they think they
ought to speak, and all the same Ian
guage. Which is the correct mode
There is still another expression that
has been abused in the same way by
the translators. It is the Son of Man
or literally, the Son of the Man and a
son of a man. l will now notice these
several cases, in connection with the
passages where they occur, making re-
marks on each class, that may seem
appropriate
l. The article IN connection t1ith Cad
The Gospel of l John, first verse,
would translate as follows "In the be.
ginning was the Word, and the WORD
was with God, and the Word was &
god" The common version obliter
ates all distinction between the two
words for God, in this verse, though
one of them has the article, and the
other is without it; and though by the
rules of the language the former de
notes the supreme God, and the latte
an inferior deity. In order to save the
passage for the support of the deity O.
Christ, DR.. Middleton, few years ago
wrote of the use of the Greek article
and put forth the theory that the wore
God, or any other noun, when it is tn
predicate of sentence, as in the state
ment, The Word was God, could no
have the article, though it was prope
in other situations. This theory ha
been refuted, and is, believe, gener
ally relinquished by all thorough Gree
scholars. 1t is refuted by the passag
itself for in the original the form O
the sentence is, God was the Word
making word with the article the pred
icate. If God was the Word, the
doubtless, the Word was god. Ofte
sentences in Greek need to be turne
around in this way, in order to expires
the meaning in English. That thes
words deno,e asubordinate and inferio
god, we have the testimony OF th